Sunday Thoughts

These are some good thoughts to ponder in light of all the turmoil in our world today:

Psalm 103:19 NKJV

19 The Lord has established His throne in heaven,

And His kingdom rules over all.

Colossians 1:16-17 NKJV

"16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. 

All things were created through Him and for Him. 

17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."

Isaiah 45:7-8 NKJV

"7 I form the light and create darkness,

I make peace and create calamity;

I, the Lord, do all these things.’

8 “Rain down, you heavens, from above,

And let the skies pour down righteousness;

Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,

And let righteousness spring up together.

I, the Lord, have created it."

Psalm 46 NKJV

"1 God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,

The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;

He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,

Who has made desolations in the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah"

Psalm 121 KJV

"1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, 

and even for evermore."

Knowing this Great God of Israel, "The Lord of Hosts is with us", I do not need to fear whatever this world may throw at me. I just need to remember to "Be still, and KNOW that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I wll be exalted in the earth!"    God is in control...no matter what!  

And that gives me great peace of mind as I go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. "My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."  There can be NO better help than that, not from any army or government or person or thing. Praise God! Amen. 

Switching Gears now...I know some of you are waiting to hear about our visit on Saturday with "Your Friend From Florida", Terri D.   Well, I was kind of waiting for Terri to share her pictures first, but I think she's waiting until tomorrow, and I didn't want to steal her thunder...but maybe I'll just share a couple of pictures...

Of course Terri wanted to see Blackie, who is quite the celebrity these days...so here we are...oops! Our eyes are closed! But not Blackie's.  And he's loving that chin rub from Terri!

I think Terri may have a better picture of this because hubby took these pictures first on my camera and then on hers. So I hope hers are a little better! We'll have to wait and see!

Here we are on the front porch, with the flag waving in the breeze.

And here's my sweet son Benton washing the dishes for us so we could visit! (I don't have a dishwasher, but I have great kids!)  He came and had lunch with us, but sweet Rose had to work so we missed her.  Benton volunteered to wash the dishes so I had to take his picture and share it with Rose!

We had a great visit and and I was so happy that Terri was able to swing this way on her way back home from her whirlwind trip to Georgia to visit her family.  I will let her tell the rest and share her pictures in her post tomorrow!

Thank you all for your kind words of compassion regarding the crazy calamity of our poor kitty getting trapped in that "tent". 
Needless to say,  that "tent" will be going back to Walmart probably tomorrow. In the meantime, I ordered something else online and it was delivered yesterday afternoon:

Since we have more cold weather on tap for tonight, I wanted to have another option available for Blackie if we can get him to go in there...well, lookie here:

I let him come in the house and walk around for a while and he went right inside this with no problem. However, I haven't tried to shut the door on it with him in there yet. We will see what develops  later.

So stay tuned for further developments!

I hope wherever you are you are safe and warm and cozy!  I know some folks in the panhandle of Florida and southern Georgia have had some snow today! We had about a quarter of an inch of rain this morning and the current temperature is 46. It was a raw, damp, windy day. It's supposed to be down to freezing by morning, so that's why the need for the indoor crate for Blackie.  

Okay, that's all folks! 

Have a blessed and peaceful night!  

And remember:

"2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber."

Amen.

Advent Day 14: Let Heaven and Nature Sing!

As I sat here in front of my little window from my "Room with a View" and started to write this post, my thoughts were directed to the sign above the window, and the view of Still Waters Pond early on this Advent morning.  This is kind of like opening a window on the Advent Calendar, if you will! You never know what may be there to surprise or bless you!

The Christmas carol "Joy to the World" came to mind, especially the first verse, which is where this words for this sign came from:

"Joy to the world the Lord is come

Let earth receive her king!

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and Heaven and nature sing!"

If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you may remember that this picture below used to be the banner photo for my blog, which was at my kitchen window in our last house in Salt Springs, FL., in the middle of the Ocala National Forest. (Click HERE to read a post about this window sill and more)

There were many opportunities to view nature outside that window and all around us at that house.  (Click HERE for an example, in case you've forgotten, or are new to my blog since we left that house in 2019)

But today I wanted to focus on the beauty of God's "wild kingdom" right outside our current window, here on Still Waters Pond.  I love this time of year because it is the time when the migrating ducks and geese and other birds start arriving...some to stay around all winter, and others to just pass through, but all are a delight to see even if for a moment! They sing their songs and flap their wings and it seems to me that they are a part of the heralding in of the Babe born in the manger, the King of kings, and Lord of all creation!

Colossians 1:15-17 says:

"15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, 

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. 

All things were created through Him and for Him. 

17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."

Psalm 24:1 says:

24 

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,

The world and those who dwell therein.

2 For He has founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the waters.

So it is only fitting that today we will focus upon the beauty and wonders of God's kingdom right here on Still Waters Pond!

I was so excited yesterday morning to look out the window and find a wonderful surprise!

Not just one or two, but a whole family of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks had arrived to our pond!

I know this picture isn't very clear, but I like it. It was early morning, and the sun wasn't fully up yet, so some of these pictures may be a little blurry. 

If you remember HERE in September, a couple of these ducks showed up and stayed around for a little while, and then they disappeared again.  And now look!  I believe this may be the same couple, and they've brought back their whole brood to visit here!  I feel like a proud Grandma of quintuplets! As best I can count, there are five youngsters and the two parents! What a wonderful surprise!

They stayed around for quite a while. There must be something really good for them to eat there along the mucky shore of the pond.  

Of course I took pictures for as long as they stayed in close enough range for me to watch them. I knew you'd want to see them too!

My statement at the top of this blog, under my cover photo says this:

Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!

When God closed the door on our previous home in Salt Springs and brought us here to this house on Still Waters Pond, we had no idea what might be out there waiting for us. I was afraid I'd really miss seeing our bears and deer and other critters from the forest (and I do miss them), but God has provided abundant beauty for us to behold here. I am so very thankful for this open window from my little "Room with a View".  There's always something out there to enjoy if I just open my eyes and look!

Here's a few pictures from the day before the ducks arrived:

Our Canada Goose couple continues to show up most every day. I am hoping they will decide to nest here again this winter/spring and that this time they will be successful. Last year didn't turn out too well for them, but maybe they were too immature yet and needed a year to 'grow up' before starting their own family? Who knows? God knows. Time will tell.

This morning there was no sign of the ducks, but the geese were out there on the pond again, however, you really can't see them in these pictures below. I was mainly focusing on how pretty pond looks in this late fall "early winter" season we are encountering. It was rather overcast this morning, and these pictures were from my cell phone, so they aren't quite as clear, but maybe you'll get the "picture".

As you can see, we still have some autumn leaves on the maple trees around the pond, but with the windy days we've been having lately, they are really starting to fall.  

Here's some added color from around the house and yard! The geraniums are loving this cooler weather, and the Christmas Cactus is starting to really bloom!  

This geranium is blooming under the back porch! I put it there to protect it from the bright sun (and frost whenever we get any) , and it seems to like it under there!  And it still gets plenty of sun and rain and has survived there for a while. Maybe next spring I will bring it back up to the porch.

I don't think I've shown you a picture of the grapevine tree in the daytime that is on the front porch. And a couple of little poinsettia plants beside it.

The little pinecone on the shelf of the table (above) has a story. One day when I went out to get the mail from the mailbox, I noticed this little pinecone just sitting there on the lawn, upright just like you see it above. I looked all around and thought, "where did that come from? There are no pine trees right over it or near by, and even if they were, they seldom land upright like that!"  I decided it must be a little gift from either a squirrel or maybe God just wanted me to notice it because it is special. So there it is!

Here's our shed "decorated" for Christmas. Those wreaths do have lights on them, but they are battery operated and it's too much trouble to keep remembering to go outside at night and turn them on and then go back again in the dark to turn them off, so this year they are just greenery by day to decorate.

And this is the wreath on the front door.

So that's the tour of the outside right now that you haven't already seen. And now I must close this door and open the window of the kitchen to get to work on cooking supper! LOL.  

"Joyful, joyful we adore Thee

God of glory, Lord of love

And hearts unfold like flowers before Thee

Opening to the sun above"

Happy 14th Day of Advent. I hope you enjoyed opening this Advent window today!

SONday Praise

Colossians 1:15-17

15.  "He is the image of the invisible God, 

the firstborn over all creation.

16.  For by Him all things were created that are 

in heaven and that are on earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created through Him and for Him.

17.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."

Just a few pictures of odds an ends from our journeys through the forest this past week.  I won't describe...just enjoy and have a blessed SONday, giving glory to God and praise to His Son, 

the "Firstborn over all creation."

Colossians 1:9-14

9.  "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it,

 do not cease to pray for you,

and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will 

in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10.  that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him,

being fruitful in every good work and 

increasing in the knowledge of God;

11.  strengthened with all might, 

according to His glorious power, 

for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

12.  giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

13.  He has delivered us from the power of darkness and 

conveyed us into the kingdom of The Son of His love,

14.  in Whom we have redemption through His blood,

the forgiveness of sins."

Praise the Lord!!

Thank you for joining me for some SONday praise!!